Chapter 014: Drawn by Fate, Bound by Karma

Reasoning with a weasel is even more futile than playing music to a cow. Even if the creature had gained sentience, it showed no gratitude whatsoever; instead, it leapt straight at me. I fended it off with my peachwood ruler, but it used the force of the block to spring off its hind legs, vaulting right over my head. Not only that, but its front claws snatched away two small tufts of my hair as it passed!

“Damn it!” I burst out in anger. This was outrageous. For it to leap over my head—didn’t that mean I’d just crawled under its crotch? If word of this got out, how would I, Jiang Huai, ever show my face in this business again?

“You ungrateful beast! Today, I’ll make sure you pay for this!”

Seeing my rage, the weasel turned back and even had the nerve to beckon mockingly at me. Then, with a twist of its body, it dashed toward the table leg it had been gnawing earlier.

There was no way I’d let it have its way. I lunged forward, sprawling onto the floor, and grabbed its tail with one hand just as it reached the table. The weasel shrieked, and I was about to stab it with the peachwood ruler when there was a thunderous sound—

A foul, colored stench erupted in my face. I let go at once, rolled away, and clamped my hand over my nose as I got to my feet. The weasel seized the chance to scamper back to the half-gnawed table leg and resumed chewing.

Its goal was clear. Attracted by the straw figure and realizing it was a fake, it now wanted to destroy it, hoping to free itself to find Grandpa Gu’s family.

I steadied my breath and, holding it in, dashed through the stink into the room. I grabbed a candle from the table and flicked hot wax onto its back.

It yowled in pain at the burn, spinning to flee, but this time I wasn’t letting it escape. I splashed wax all over the floor, sealing off every route, while the weasel, seeing there was no way out, began to howl in a frenzy.

I spat on the ground and, gripping the peachwood ruler backward, strode up to it and snarled, “I gave you a chance, and you refused. Don’t blame me for what happens next!”

I raised the ruler, ready to drive it through its skull. But suddenly, the enormous weasel dropped to its knees before me, pressing its paws together as if begging for mercy.

“Master… spare me… He was the one who flooded my home… killed my three children… I came for vengeance… in accordance with Heaven’s law…”

“Nonsense!” I jabbed the ruler at its head. “Flooded your home? Killed your children? Why not say he bit your tail as well?”

“Master… if I utter a single falsehood, may lightning strike me dead!”

Hearing this, I felt a flicker of doubt. Normally, when a spirit beast makes such an oath, it’s as binding as a nail driven into wood—if it lied, it would truly be struck down by lightning.

Could it be telling the truth?

“Master… come with me and see for yourself…”

Whether human or spirit, all living things exist in a world where the strong prey on the weak. If I hadn’t gotten the better of this weasel today, it certainly wouldn’t have wasted breath talking to me. Yet slaughter is never the true solution.

“Lead the way.” I wiped away the candle wax with my foot, warning, “Try any tricks, and if I caught you once, I’ll catch you again.”

Once free of the wax circle, the weasel paused to bow to me, then led the way, looking back every few steps as if afraid I’d fall behind.

I followed it into the graveyard that lay between the two villages. The moonlight was pale and cold, and a chill wind pierced to the bone.

After twenty minutes, it brought me to the white stone monument where Yu Gu had lain that night. The weasel no longer spoke human words, but gestured frantically at the back of the stone.

Curious, I circled around and discovered that the monument had crushed three weasels, each no bigger than a palm.

I frowned slightly as the weasel began to dig frantically at the earth in front of the stone. Soon, it had opened a hole large enough for a weasel’s den.

I stood there, gazing up at the moon, recalling the scene from that night when Yu Gu had passed by. Though he had meant no harm, the seed of karma had been sown.

As he drunkenly collapsed against the monument, the three young weasels had been emerging—and were crushed beneath him. Then, when he relieved himself, he’d urinated right into their den.

How could the weasel not seek vengeance?

The cause was sown without intent; the effect descends from above.

“I hate him so much… I hate him so much… How could I not take revenge… How could I not…”

All living things are equal, and in this matter, Yu Gu was indeed at fault. Yet I couldn’t stand by and watch the weasel commit murder.

With a deep sigh, I narrowed my eyes at the weasel and spoke, “I see truth in your words. I won’t hold your earlier actions against you. But if you insist on taking a life for a life, I will not let you proceed.”

“You may have reason, but that does not give you license to kill indiscriminately.”

“Today, I shall decide this matter. I’ll find a solution that serves both sides. What do you say?”

The weasel chittered for a moment, then hopped before me, looking up with glistening eyes.

An idea struck me, and I gently said, “Yu Gu was at fault. On his behalf, I promise that his descendants for three generations will honor your children with ancestral tablets, atoning for the wrong and praying they may pass peacefully to the next life and be reborn as humans.”

“And furthermore,” I paused, then continued, “Heaven cherishes life. Our meeting is fate, and since you’ve not taken a life, I will help you walk the righteous path.”

“The Gu family will set up an incense hall and offer you a spirit tablet, honoring you as an immortal. Yu Gu’s first child will take you as a teacher. What do you think?”

Hearing this, the weasel stood tall and straight, tears streaming from its eyes as it bowed repeatedly without a word.

“It is well. Fate brought us together, and karma unfolds as it must. Good and evil lie in a single thought.”

I gazed up at the bright white moon, feeling something stir within. From my pocket, I took a piece of yellow paper and, with my own blood, wrote a few bold characters. I pressed the paper onto the white stone monument.

I looked at the weasel and solemnly declared, “From this day forward, you shall be called Huang Baiyue. This white stone monument shall be your place of cultivation.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the yellow paper burst into flames, and fire blazed across the weasel’s body as well.